Coach Tamer Tuna enjoyed a very good season in his first head coach experience as he helped the newly promoted Goztepe to finish sixth in the Super League which was however not enough to book a place in the Europa League next season.
Though Goztepe failed to get the season off to a good start, collecting only one point in the initial two games, a 4-game winning streak made them turn into one of toughest teams in the league.
In the season’s 1st part, they have struggled to get points from the title holders. Except that, they could offer a very good performance against the rest. It enabled them to hang around the European Cups zone. The early days of 2018 were not joyful as they could collect only three points in five games. The departure of Adis Jahovic affected them very negatively. After his replacement Demba Ba found his rhythm, they started to collect points at home, but their away run was not what they expected to see, no away victory in 2018. They could have caught the 5th place, had they been more careful in the final weeks.
Although they lost the 5th place battle against Trabzon, they managed to earn the sympathy of most of the people with their home crowd and atmosphere. Young offensive wingers like Halil Akbunar and Tayfur Bingol showed great performances and proved that they could be important players in the future. Moreover, they could earn call-ups to the national team soon.
Despite being successful as the 6th placed team in the league, the board and coach Tamer Tuna failed to come to an agreement for the next season. First of all, they need to find a good replacement. Then they need to add a good striker, because Demba Ba is linked with a move away from the club.
